Scottish Catholic Observer

The past month has seen much of the world stop and remember the horrors of the First World War which began a century ago this month.

Yet while those events seem distant they still resonate on our lives today, as shown in the story of the remarkable picture below which shows British soldiers receiving a blessing after salvaging Holy statues from a church which was due to be destroyed in the French town of Armentieres.

The man on the bottom left is John O’Hara, a teenager from Glasgow. He is the only soldier in that photograph, and his whole platoon, to survive the war.

On his return to Glasgow, Mr O’Hara became a well known physician in the East End, father to a family of five, and even the club doctor of Celtic FC before he died in the 1950s.

The photo below was found many years after the war by his daughter Eileen (now McInness) of West Kilbride, who uncovered it in a history book at the library. Copies now hang proudly in the halls and living rooms of the homes of Mr O’Hara’s many descendants.

Mrs McInness remembers him, as a ‘fantastic father’ who ‘worked hard and loved his work.’

“And there was no phone in those days, so he would have to get up and open the surgery,” she recalled. “So he gave up a huge portion of his life to it, but he was very well liked.”

Like many of his generation, he really spoke about his wartime experiences.

“I really knew him as a father,’ Mrs McInness said. “And he was a fantastic one. And he died when I was 17 so it’s a sadness that I never got to know him as an adult, as a friend.’

One of Mr O’Hara’s many grandchildren is Michael O’Hara, of Cambuslang, Mrs McInness nephew. And though he never got the chance to meet his grandfather, he says his memory looms large for the family.

Both, he and Mrs McInness attended the recent memorial service in Glasgow to mark 100 years since the start of the Great War and he said it was ‘much better than expected, quite powerful speeches and personal experience, not pompous at all.’

Mrs McInness agreed, saying it was ‘absolutely lovely, I’m so glad I went it was a wonderful service.’

For Michael, the whole service was an opportunity to reflect on what previous generations sacrificed for us.

“I think as time goes on it’s easy to forget those who went before unless events remind us,” he told the SCO. “So it’s important to remember what they did and why. If they hadn’t done what they had done back then, where we would be now?”

For his generation he believes the recent memorials offered a ‘great opportunity’ to remember those who gave their lives and those who came back.

“And I look back with pride at my grandfather because he came back and gave a lot to the community,” he said. “I’m sure there’s some in the East End that would remember him even now. So I think it is good to remember and learn more about those who went before if we can.”

Looking at this photograph, it may seem men like John O’Hara are very distant to us indeed, but the influence they had in life and the good they did lives on in their descendants and the lasting impact of the choices they made.

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